Things Are Looking Up—This Evening

In 2009, a work opportunity took us to a small island in the Levant. We found ourselves in a culture that could easily lay claim to originating the term “social network”. In the coffee shop, at family gatherings, and leisurely Sunday meals with extended family, news, gossip and business were discussed and disseminated. The old fashioned way. By mouth. While the Arab Spring sparked in Tunisia, and caught fire in Egypt and Libya and still rages on in Syria, our little island was content to bypass social media and meet over meze. And so were we. (But this is another post.)

Three years later we emerged, blinking, into a dazzling world of fever pitch connectivity. The advancement in mobile devices (no iPad when we left!), apps (hello Instagram), and social media platforms set to the thrum of New York life has been inspiring.

So as we stumble and fumble our way through the learning curve, one of the most interesting or honestly, fun, aspects of playing catch-up has been discovering the phone as a camera and disseminating the results. We’ve decided to include this aspect of discovery in the blog with a weekly camera phone gallery. Going forward, while some photos may have cropped Instagram cousins, these are the originals with no filters or retouching.

This started last week with One Street, Two Blocks, Three Colors and this week continues with Things are looking up – this evening. The parameter this week is simple: while going about daily life (without the intention of going out to take pictures), look up and shoot.

I love your random, unedited shots. I look at them and try to discover what it was that made you want to capture that picture. It is like looking through your lens with you. Thank you for sharing. Love the glimpse I get from your posts too.